@Anonymous wrote:Hello everyone!
I am new to the forum, but have been lurking around for awhile getting advice for questions I have that had already been asked, etc. I am currently debating some things and would like to tap into the expertise of the myFICO forum!
I am currently 25 years old, with a great credit history (discoverit tells me its 766, credit karma says 752). I started building credit when I was 18 through various credit cards. I feel that I have a "random" assortment right now that really is not maximizing the potential for rewards, etc. My overall list is as follows:
BofA Cash Rewards Card - Oldest, had since I was 18.
Chase Sapphire Preferred - recently obtained within the last month.
American Express Surpass Card - member since 2011, linked to Hilton Honors account
Discover It Card - member since 2010
Best Buy Credit Card - had since I was 18.
Closed Cards:
Chase Slate - closed since I could not get a limit higher than $400
Barclay Card - regular ol' no rewards card. I used it to purchase a macbook with financing and never used it again.
Shell Drive for 5 card - never got to 45 gallons of fuel each month to get the rewards.
Ranking the usage in order, I use the CSP for every purchase, other than Gas and groceries (BofA) and whatever 5% rotating category Discover is using. My best buy card I keep open because it has a decent limit and I can finance any purchases through it. My AMEX only gets used whenever I book hotels. However, I feel like this combination really doesnt maximize the potential for rewards. I have seen the chase freedom where you can transfer the rewards points back to the CSP card and double dip, but I dont want to get rid of my DiscoverIt, since I have been with it so long. Both the CSP and Amex have a $95 a year limit.
For rewards, I really want travel and cashback really. Any thought or insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone!
Hey KSF! Nice to see other 20-somethings who have started their credit young 
My recommendations:
Convert your Cash Rewards to a Better Balance Rewards. You get $25 per quarter for using your card once a month and paying at least the minimum. If you have a BofA checking, it winds up being $30/quarter.
Keep your Discover IT! Although recently IT and Freedom have had overlapping categories, there will come a time when they don't. Then you'll be glad you still kept the IT. Might as well pick up the Freedom since you have the CSP and are willing to combine points for travel.
In terms of general cash back, look into the Fidelity AMEX or the Double Cash through Citi. Each card offers 2% on every purchase, which is awesome for those "catch-all" categories. What do you tend to spend the most on? Cash+ is perfect for choosing your own 5x categories, and Sallie Mae offers 5x on groceries, gas, and bookstores AKA amazon.com.
Best of luck in your journey!
@Anonymous wrote:The bulk of my spending is gas and restaurants. Does the better balance rewards offer cash back as well? I feel like I have already gotten more than $120 back from this card (but I need to double check!)
Here's another question, how come it isnt best to just have one card and purchase everything on it and rack up everything that way? With me using the CSP for all my purchases, the other cards are only there for when theres a big bonus. Maybe I just answered my own question? haha
I would use an 5%gas card like sm in there also. Depending ding on how much gas you buy. If you buy more than 250 you can try and app for either another sm card or try something like blue cash. Blue cash does need 6500 spending threshold before you open up 5%on gas though.
@Anonymous wrote:
@longtimelurker wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Here's another question, how come it isnt best to just have one card and purchase everything on it and rack up everything that way? With me using the CSP for all my purchases, the other cards are only there for when theres a big bonus. Maybe I just answered my own question? haha
This is raised more with a card (like CSP, or Amex MR/SPG) when you are transferring points to another rewards program (hotel/air). If you are trying to get to say 150K UR points for your dream vacation in Elizabeth NJ, then you might want to accumulate UR on every transaction, even though using another card might give more value. So if you value UR at say 3c, you might want to use CSP even if you could get 5% back on another card, because the overall value of getting the reward is more important.
But for cash back, it makes less sense, except for reducing the overall load of choosing and managing what card to use.
There are also so called "5% everywhere" strategies which you can look up, using just one credit card.
thats what Im doing right now, spending everything on CSP and then using the cash rewards for things that are maxed out. I feel like the Chase Freedom really helps more with really stacking up on the UR points, especially if they have a category discover doesnt.
A under utilized way to get some ur points is using ur mall for every online purchase you can you will get some bonus points that way. I really feel if you want to save up for nice trips you have to diversify between airline cards, spg, and Mr based cards though. It will be tough just thru everyday spending with just csp. You will at least have to do some opening of business cards and churn some of those Ink cards